In Chronicle 6, the nature of Transcendence was discussed as it is made manifest via the sacred geometry of the Mother’s Vision. However, the Inner Chamber carries us forward into the Supramental Manifestation as it was then and as it would unfold for many years to come. It is ‘written’ in the temple, true to the pinnacles reached in sacred architecture which are now preserved only in myth. There is no living example of this objective art form anywhere in the world. Only the Mother’s Vision preserves the art for the future. At the same time, the Mother left humanity with all the keys of knowledge required to make a conscious passage into that new future, the primary demand in the Age of Supermind.For this very reason the Auroville Matrimandir is a serious aberration and a blemish on an otherwise pristine play of circumstances that destiny has arranged for the Supramental Manifestation. In the Auroville structure there is no higher truth in evidence; it is simply the ordinary human condition: groping for the light in darkness. This is clearly displayed in the focal point of the Auroville Matrimandir, the stand and crystal.But in the Mother’s Vision the geometry and symbolism involved in its centrepiece present the seeker with a key feature of the Truth-Consciousness: from Truth to greater Truth. In that Vision there is a luminous core: no emptiness, no void, no shadow.In this Chronicle we shall delve deeply into the pregnant symbolism involved in the chamber’s core and discover how ‘all things are made new’ by the laws governing the Supramental Manifestation. These laws incorporate not only the intimate details of Supermind’s organisation for Earth use; they disclose, among other things, the central role India plays in the Manifestation, simply by the exact diameter of the translucent, light-filled Globe.

Higher Laws in the Mother’s ChamberBy a miracle of vision and measure, the dimensions of united India’s landmass are ‘contained’ in the Globe. This will be the subject of a future Chronicle. There is a vast body of newly descended Knowledge to back up this statement, only a fraction of which can be presented here, given the limitations of space. But before proceeding, it will be helpful to quote the French scholar, Charles Malamoud, as reported in The UNESCO Courier, May 1993, so that readers can better understand the method the Mother employed to transcribe her vision which is Vedic to the core. We refer to the ancient formulas of the Law of Correspondences:

‘…Such correspondences exist, but it is up to humans to discover them, to become aware of them, to formulate them – and in so doing, to confirm them. Solving the Vedic riddles…involves linking similar elements from the different levels of existence… A ritual object, a particular moment in a ceremony, is thought to have a replica or counterpart in some specific spatial or temporal element of the universe…

‘This network of correspondences is not static. The Vedic authors… gave much thought to finding new, more refined and complex equivalences. Several Sanskrit words convey this idea, words that mean “connection”, “link”, even “kinship”. In Vedic India the idea of correspondences is more important than the concept of causality – whereas Buddhism insists on sequence of cause and effect…’.

To be noted in the above is the crucial question of ‘correspondences’, as the scholar so aptly describes in drawing distinctions between Hinduism and Buddhism. In these Chronicles we have mentioned the Laws of Equivalence and Correspondence. They are the foundation of the new Seeing; or, as the Mother would describe it, the new precision. It is a concept found throughout the Veda. To give an example, ‘one day equals one year’ is one such law. With this formula the art of ‘progressing’ a horoscope evolved. This is still a firm pillar in the so-called western system of astrology. Though it is entirely Vedic, it fell into disuse in India when the Divine Maya was lost centuries ago. But it is with this very formula, together with similar ‘correspondences’, that the supreme rahasya of the Mother’s original plan is unveiled. One day for one year, as a concrete example of Malamoud’s statement, means that the day of 24 hours was equivalent to the year of 365 days for the Vedic Rishi. With this ‘philosopher’s stone’ that the Mother has left us in the precision of her sacred plan, we can appreciate how a renewal of these ancient truths is carried out.

The truth of that which movesAll Chronicles to date have dealt with the horizontal plane exclusively. But in sacred architecture of any real value, there are two directions that are essential and must be transcribed with meticulous care: horizontal and vertical. When we transpose this to the harmonies of the cosmos, they become expansion and contraction, respectively. Thus, in the Mother’s Vision it was made clear that the chamber’s diameter (horizontal) was a key feature, without which ‘nothing holds’ (see CIC 5 and 6). We may add that without the vertical and time, nothing MOVES. And without MOTION there is nothing to hold because there is no material universe of the 9, or a creation in matter. As we penetrate deeper levels of the Mother’s revelation we will set her vision in motion like a magical carousel that is suddenly put into a dynamic mode,based on the renewed application of the Laws of Equivalence and Correspondence. This is accomplished by the incorporation of Time in the geometry and design; and it is the property of the Vertical. The most unique aspect of the Mother’s Vision, never before accomplished, is this Geometry of Time.

Another aspect of the Chamber to note is that it is essentially bare with only a few items to delineate or define the 24m space. But each of these items is not without its symbolic meaning. More than that, they describe features of the Supramental Manifestation in its ongoing expression as the Work is organised today, and for tomorrow. In this light we note that the Mother’s symbol is incorporated in the horizontal dimension (expansion) not the vertical. The reader must note this distinction because it is fundamental if we want to read what is ‘written’ in the chamberWhen the Mother insisted that ‘everything is symbolic’, in the course of a valiant defence of her Vision, she thus confirmed that each item had a meaning, a sense. Except for some clues she provided, the rest was to be discovered with the subsequent descent of the Knowledge during the ‘sorting out’ process. But just because her entourage dismissed that ‘sense’ and symbolism, it does not follow that we are prohibited from not only making these discoveries but from wanting to preserve her Vision just as she chose to reveal it; for which reason she set in motion the ‘sorting out of the people’. Naturally, to receive the new things new methods had to be devised, new vistas of yoga had to be opened.With this preparation we have been able to employ the ancient tools, namely the Laws of Equivalence and Correspondence, for the discoveries. These are not as esoteric and recondite as first appears. For instance, the law ‘one day for one year’ simply refers to the fact that vis-à-vis the Sun the experience of the Earth in the 24-hour revolution on her axis, during which time she turns all parts of herself to the luminary, is the same as her revolution around the Sun in our 365-day year. Admittedly, to appreciate this correspondence a perception of oneness must exist. On that basis, a definite correspondence of experience, of being, of purpose emerges between the day and the year for Earth’s creatures. It is written in our genes, just as the Sun’s own physical pulsation is recorded in our cells: exactly 9 pulsations in our 24-hour day. Even further, these various movements of the Earth around the Sun are the planet’s contribution to the harmony. It is her rhythm, her ‘music’ added to the symphony of the whole ensemble that is our solar system.Because of these important correspondences and harmonics, our 24-hour day is the upholding measurement in the chamber, central to which is the Mother’s own symbol. When this perfectly fashioned base is established and the horizontal plane is firmly in place, our eyes then turn to the vertical, the ‘carousel’s’ axis of light. And there, hidden in the descending miracle Ray playing upon the globe and ending at the top of the stone pedestal, consisting of Sri Aurobindo’s four upright symbols, we see the year of 365 days – passing over a space of 15.20m by the Laws of Correspondence and Equivalence. Those 15.20m in a descending cascade must stop at the top of the pedestal. If we wish to honour the Harmony, the Ray must measure 365 days/15.20m. If it does not, there is disharmony; everything is askew and Time is the destroyer and not the ally because his demanding Laws have been transgressed.

The Transcendent’s birth as the ImmanentIn the Matrimandir Talks the Mother mentions two figures, 15.20 and 15.50. Both are correct. One is the measure of the miracle Ray, the other is the height of the room. To reconcile the two and draw them harmoniously into the rhythm of the whole, the missing but crucial element is the pedestal. For it is Sri Aurobindo’s sacred symbol that reconciles and integrates once again. This occurs only when the exact measurement (height and width) of the pedestal is discovered.We write ‘discovered’ because the Mother did not specify emphatically the pedestal’s measurement. In the early part of her experience she vaguely mentions 30cm; but after the Act of Measuring several days later, all the pieces of the puzzle fit into place.

At that point she did not have to specify because the pedestal’s proportions were entirely dependent on the diameter of the globe which she did specify: 70 cm.Observe the beauty of these revelations and how true to the Knowledge they have been proven to be. In the Shalagrama, Sri Aurobindo ‘appears’ in his subtle transcendent form only when the Mother’s inner chamber is accurately constructed, - i.e., a room of a precise 24m diameter. Only then does the Transcendent ‘manifest’ in the outer form.However, regarding his symbol in the pedestal we are dealing with the immanence of that very Transcendent – or Ashwapathy to Satyavan in the language of the Epic. Therefore, it is not the chamber’s 24m diameter that provides the measure for the manifestation, but rather the globe. In the words of the Epic:

She kept within her strong embosoming soulLike a flower hidden in the heart of springThe soul of Satyavan drawn down by herInextricably in that mighty lapse.
Invisible heavens in a thronging flight
Soared past her as she fell. Then all the blind
And near attraction of the earth compelled
Fearful rapidities of downward bliss.
Lost in the giddy proneness of that speed,
Whirled, sinking, overcome she disappeared
Like a leaf spinning from the tree of heaven.
In broad unconsciousness as in a pool;
A hospitable softness drew her in
Into a wonder of miraculous depths,
Above her closed a darkness of great wings
And she was buried in a mother’s breast.

It is thus that Transcendence is moulded into Immanence in the soul of Savitri (the globe), as she draws Satyavan (the Immanent in the pedestal) into a ‘mother’s breast’ amidst the formidable contraction that this downward plunge into the heart of creation compels. For this is indeed the nature and being of the Immanent: contraction to a point. We shall see how beautifully this metaphysical truth is displayed by the Mother in her wondrous plan.In the inner chamber the Globe is seen as the channel to render immanent the subtleness of Transcendence. What is ABOVE is brought BELOW, into the heart of creation. Hence Sri Aurobindo’s symbol is rendered in solid stonein the pedestal, as the Mother wanted, in keeping with the very nature of the Immanent, in contrast to his subtle symbol as manifested in the Shalagrama. This may appear confusing but we can use sacred geometry to bring it alive and comprehensible. The geometric formula for the discovery is known in schools of higher knowledge as the VESICA PISCIS.The diagram below is the traditional Vesica Piscis. As noted, it is constructed simply by drawing two circles of equal diameter and connecting their radii. Yet simple as it is, we discover the great secret of the temple with this ancient formula: the correct measurement of the core’s Pedestal. The Mother did not specify what that should be; she did not need to. All she had to stress was the correct diameter of the Globe: 70cm. Before the ‘act of measuring’ this too was left vague. But once she applied her consciousness to the details of the revelation, whatever needed to be recorded accurately for posterity the Supramental Shakti attended to, regardless of the disinterest in her entourage at the time.

From The New Way, Vol. 2, p.236, p.238 Aeon Books, 1981

A Vesica Piscis drawn on the basis of a circle of 70cm diameter holds the pedestal ‘in its bosom’ (see diagram above). And since the Mother stated that she saw the corners of Sri Aurobindo’s orange-coloured stone symbols touching, the key to the discovery lay in the fact that with a 70cm Vesica those upright rectangles would accommodate neatly and exactly Sri Aurobindo’s symbol within the lower ‘subtle’ circle. We emphasise subtle (the dotted line circle in the diagram to the right above) because in the chamber’s core this circle exists by inference – just as Sri Aurobindo’s symbol ‘manifests subtly’ in the Shalagrama. His provides the seal and sanction – though subtle or ‘from above’ – for the outer Shalagrama and integrates inner and outer, but only because in the inner space his transcendence becomes immanent in the stone pedestal. But it, in turn, is ‘legitimised’ by the luminous Globe of perfect measure.

This interplay of forms, subtle and dense, manifest and implied, is perhaps the most exquisite display of sacred geometry that has ever been revealed. Is it therefore any wonder that the Mother did not want mere photographs in the chamber? This geometry of pure forms carries the seeker far beyond the physical and into the highest reaches of planes above mind. It is as if the transformation of matter takes place before our eyes in the chamber, as all things are made new in this most elegant of all geometric revelations.And as for the Veda, the Mother as the Divine Maya truly legitimises material creation by this interplay, by recording that the Transcendence we adore in the beyond is itself within the boundaries of creation and becomes its very heart and soul. All of this is recorded in her original plan.A definition of material creation is ‘putting boundaries on the Boundless’. These are the limits the Transcendent accepts as he ‘materialises’ – here depicted as the ‘boundaries’ of the Shalagrama. Hence the Shalagrama is a geometric form greatly revered in India because it displays this great secret: the materialisation of the Transcendent, from subtle to stone, the mostmaterial substance on our planet. Essentially, this is the function of the Divine Maya: to legitimise material creation by ‘giving form to the Formless’ through this miracle of transposition from above to below flawlessly. What is ‘above’ is impeccably transcribed ‘below’ so that this planet Earth can indeed evolve to be the home of a life divine.The effulgent Globe and solid stone Pedestal of the Mother’s chamber are heart and soul respectively: the Transcendent brought to Earth by this ever-recurring sacred alchemy that makes a mockery of all the theories of the illusory and impermanent nature of material creation. There is nothing BEYOND that is not found here, at the heart of material creation, whose number is 9 by virtue of the 9 pulsations of the Sun. And this is the great secret of the vertical shaft of the Mother’s inner chamber according to her original plan. This is the secret of the Divine Maya, that supreme architect of the Transcendent, she who makes him manifest, who buries him ‘in a mother’s breast’. Thus is the Immanent born among us, equal in every way to the Transcendent who precedes him. He is ‘born’ by a compelling compression to apoint. And this too we find located in the temple’s core, at its most potent location.

The pedestal’s dimensionsThe precise dimensions of the pedestal, as supplied by the Vesica Piscis, are 50 cm height x 60 cm width. When we enter into a detailed discussion of the descending Ray, we will see how the circle is squared, so to speak, when the circular Ray, whose diameter should also be 60cm, passes through the Globe and then into the solid 60cm square of the pedestal. Hidden and in the secret recesses of the rectangular stone base, that circle is squared in a magical alchemy for the transformation of matter, or the conversion of lead to gold. This is akin to the unknown and mystifying process that transpired in the King’s chamber of the Great Pyramid. So important was precision in the fashioning of the rectangular box, known commonly as the sarcophagus, that precision tools of the highest calibre were used in its construction. Needless to say, this fact does not receive any publicity in archaeological or historical research circles because none can explain the existence of such tools thousands of years ago. This ancient structure displays such a high degree of precision that we cannot equal the task today even with our best equipment.The Egyptians were not dealing with Time (contraction), only Space (expansion). The horizontal plane and the linear form was their domain. India is destined to deal with Time and the precision of the vertical and the spherical. For this the measurement/placement of the pedestal is crucial.

Only with the correct pedestal height can the measure of the Ray equal 365 days, our Earth year. The Vesica Piscis based on a circle of 70cm diameter is thus the most important revelation of the Mother’s Vision. Through the luminous Globe the Transcendent’s compressed light is made Immanent – and this ‘new base of life’ in turn becomes the SUPPORT of the Globe, the chamber’s only luminous object. For it is the Eye that Sees at the heart of every created thing; just as the golden seed of the Truth-Consciousness is lodged in the depths of material creation, centre to all created things; and from there this golden seed CONTROLS THE PLAY by being the ‘centre that holds’.When the Mother described the Ray falling onto the Globe as ‘the symbol of the future realisation’, she referred to a realisation that has not been experienced for many thousands of years, and perhaps never to the degree that her chamber’s plan reveals. She has left humanity an exact description of the deepest secrets of Reality through a most sophisticated use of geometric symbols. She has explained the paradox of simultaneous Transcendence and Immanence that has mystified the human mind since the first moment consciousness began to ponder the meaning of life and creation’s purpose. In a most ingenious use of symbols, her inner chamber within the sacred Shalagrama offers a visual perception of the act of creation, - or the passage of Transcendence to Immanence at the heart of that material creation, without losing anything of himself. We see thus the origin of Light (the Ray), his very Light, which comes into being when that transcendent Consciousness inverts and begins its descent through the act of compression by the power of his Divine Mayainto theboundaries of the universal manifestation (the Shalagrama).Thus do our physical laws reveal what is ‘above’. Space is the divine principle of the Infinite; Time is the divine principle of the Eternal. They are the means to experience that ‘beyond’ here on Earth where they become measurable. Without the sacred Divine Maya there is no redemption of matter and hence no possibility of the divine life on Earth.Our universe of space and time is the materialised Light of the Infinite and the Eternal. Indeed, we ‘see’ the Transcendent compressed before our very eyes when that crystallised Light materialises in the chamber and then passes down and into the Globe, where that sphere of perfect measure transforms the Transcendent into the immanent golden SEED of himself. From vast to minute but ever one, in an unbroken line of time just as Sri Aurobindo experienced. All of this is ‘written’ in the core of the Mother’s chamber; even as it is written in the Epic in the passage quoted above.1Compression is the keyword and Time is the medium. In the Rig Veda this is Agni, navel of the world, centre of all created things, the Fire that is both source and upholder because he is the one whose birth fills the void. The first step on the path to Immortality is this ‘birth’. The void must be filled for only that can lead to everlasting life and the end of the reign of Death.

Pisces, the Mother’s birth sign, and the Vesica To conclude, it is to be noted that the Vesica Piscis holds the great secret of the Mother’s own birth sign, Pisces. The commonly known version of its hieroglyph is given below (a); whereas, after initiation into the mysteries of the zodiac and its higher knowledge, that exoteric hieroglyph becomes (b), or the Vesica Piscis formula (c), the most revered key of all sacred geometry. Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac. After the ‘journey’ through the preceding eleven signs, the hierophant finds this symbol ‘made new’ as it opens to his inner vision those very wonders the Mother has captured for us in her original vision and plan of the inner chamber.

What was lostALL OF THIS WAS LOST IN THE AUROVILLE MATRIMANDIR. There is not one element of the sacred in the core of that structure. Not only was Sri Aurobindo’s symbol rendered effete and weak by its see-through design and the materials employed, its measurements, disproportionate to the globe, were not of the precision required to allow the chamber to perform the very object for which the Mother gave the world this sacred revelation: the key to Time’s transformation into an ally for the descent of the supramental creation and the realisation of Immortality. Most unforgivable of all is that the measure of the miracle Ray was distorted beyond recognition by not ending its descent at the top of the pedestal (15.20m), after which it must no longer be seen. What transpires in the pedestal is the great Secret; it is Guha, the hidden one in the cave, at the innermost space of the seeker where there is only that sacred Point: the Immanent, the One, Agni, Satyavan. It is there that we find the temple’s supreme power point – that is, at the pedestal’s diagonal cross section at its very heart.This ‘birth’ by compression ‘fills the void’ which is the objective of Sri Aurobindo’s passage from Transcendent to Immanent in an unbroken line of time, compressed from ‘the other side’ to emerge as the One.The executing architect, Piero Cicionesi, who took it upon himself to redesign the core ‘in his image’ (see AUROVILLE TODAY, No. 31, August 1991, page 6), prided himself on leaving a 4cm hole in the floor when he closed the 3m opening where the Mother’s symbol was to have been placed. A colossal amount was spent on engineering this ‘void’ at the chamber’s heart, only then to close it up! Be that as it may, the executing architect, with no sanction other than his own limited perception, went so far as to state that he left this 4cm aperture for ‘symbolic’ reasons:

‘It is symbolic. I do not think that you will be able to see it in the daytime, as the natural sunlight will be too strong. But in the evening, maybe a tiny spot of light will be visible from underneath the floor of the Chamber. It still has to be seen if that light can be concentrated again into a ray so as to really touch the water of the lotus pond beneath.’

To our knowledge, Piero Cicionesi has never explained the symbolism he saw in this 4cm hole, where none should exist in a symbol of the supramental creation. But from what has been explained in this Chronicle, the reader can easily understand that Cicionesi was simply true to himself and the binary creature that he is, in orbit of a void (the origin of the human ego).

He is not alone in this condition; this is the cherished property of the entire mental human species. And further, this is the reason for our mortality: energy slips away through ‘gaps’ during the act of extreme contraction, which is the definition of death. The fragile binary creature, bearing this ‘hole’ centremost and not the One who fills the void, cannot sustain the compression and is thus pushed out of the material universe of time and space just like Cicionesi’s exiting ‘ray’, thereby severing his/her conscious awareness of this plane. This is the famous ‘escape’ of all post-Vedic paths.Piero Cicionesi has thus cemented human mortality in the Auroville Matrimandir. Worse yet, he leads the public to believe that it is ‘faithful to the Mother’s original’ in all ways (except for the 15 step entrance – see CIC 3). Her vision leads us on the luminous path of the Immortals. Piero Cicionesi’s points the way to the realm of the Dark Lord, where the human creation is trapped.He is to be held responsible because he KNEW what the Mother wanted. He had the Mother’s own words BEFORE anything was finalised, just as he KNEW the Mother wanted the pedestal in STONE, and orange coloured. The Mother never asked for a see-through, gold-plated, minuscule ‘stand’ of inappropriate proportions. Yet he knowingly and wilfully imposed his own limitations on all the followers of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.Regarding any proposed changes in her plan, the Mother warned,

We will let it sort itself out. Because you see, to accept changes, it is necessary that I be certain that the origin of the inspiration is of the same quality as mine… For the building, I know very well that people are needed who know their job and who do the work. But for the inspiration it is necessary that I be certain that the origin of the inspiration be AT LEAST of the same level as mine… and I am not sure, because I saw it so clearly. His [Paolo’s] ideas are all mental, I can guarantee it because it is easy for me to see that. Well, they bring the same MIXTURE that there is in everything that is done in the world. And that…what is the use in beginning again, again,again…? (Matrimandir Talks, 17 January 1970).

Nothing was honoured of the Mother’s inspiration. It was used simply as a springboard to something else, whatever the ego desired in order to preserve its dark rule, clothed in the guise of aesthetics or convenience. Is it surprising then that the execution of Piero Cicionesi’s gold-plated wrought iron see-through stand gave so much trouble? Indian craftsmen were ‘unable’ to deal with the black spots that surfaced after gold plating was done, due to countless holes that appeared in the symbol. Once again it was Germany that came to the rescue – similar to the transparent and equally imperfect ‘crystal’ which the blemished ‘stand’ upholds, also fashioned in Germany.We, the public, have every right to ask of the executing architect what his 4 cm ‘symbolic’ hole signifies. If he has stated that ‘it is symbolic’, he is obliged to explain his reasoning to the donating public, which has already given crores of rupees just to immortalise his own mortality.Is Auroville justified in continuing the campaign among an unknowing and unsuspecting public to go on donating more crores of rupees in order to complete this binary creature’s stamp of mortality and this grand and very costly eulogy to the Dark God?

1 As another example of the Mother’s extraordinary previsionary capacity, the following footnote is quoted from The New Way, Vol. 2, p. 250 (Aeon Books, 1981), regarding the properties of the pedestal: ‘At the time of printing (summer of 1978) a hitherto unpublished talk of the Mother has appeared, concerning an experience she had on or about 12 September, 1956. This was shortly after the Supramental Manifestation Day, 29 February, 1956. She explains that a supramental entity came into her and she particularly emphasises that it was a solid block, “a rectangle with a square base”. It is noteworthy that some fifteen years later she discovered that the most important element of the core [of her temple] – the pedestal where the alchemy of a New Time transpires – is precisely this form: a rectangle with a square base, and that into that geometrical form Sri Aurobindo’s symbol would fit with exact precision.